For some years I had a beautiful hand made piece of paper on my wall, I remember touching it often as it felt so soft, it had small imperfections and reliefs and almost felt like textile. It is probably why I had to find out more about the  textile sculptures by Mary Little. Trained as a furniture designer at London’s Royal College of Art, she has always approached her work as sculpture. 

Born in Northern Ireland, Mary Little moved to the United States in 2001 to take up a teaching position at California College the Arts (CCA), San Francisco. In 2015 she made a conscious break and began to create works devoid of functional references. Since then she had numerous exhibitions and her work can be found in the permanent collections of the Vitra Design Museum in Basel and Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris and in many public and private collections both in Europe and North America.

Estudio Persona is a Furniture and Lighting Design Studio based in Los Angeles created by Emiliana Gonzalez and Jessie Young in 2014. Working as part of a deeply collaborative process, their unconventional designs are inspired by natural forms and follow sculptural lines; a distinctly neutral and minimal take on the monochromatic melancholy of their native Uruguay.  Estudio Persona works with natural materials in contrasting ways and their studio space and furniture pieces beautiful come together with the work of Mary Little in a digital exhibition due the pandemic.

At her website Mary talks about her work and her teenage years in Belfast and what seeing her work in Estudio Persona’s serene space, the monastic feeling; a place of quiet reflection and respite means so much to her.  Read the full story here Reflections exhibition

pictures courtesy Mary Little Studio